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Review by Harvey
Platter.
© 2006.
What's better than a Leica
M6? Why, a Leica Minilux zoom. When the M6 fanatics have
climbed down off the ceiling we'll continue.
For my last birthday I decided I'd treat myself to a Leica.
I'd had one once before, an M2, but I needed a computer and...
So I went to Ace Cameras in Bath (UK) and looked at an M6
and a beautiful used M4. While I was doing this (and stretching
the pleasure as long as possible) my wife nudged me. "What's
that?" She asked, pointing to a small bronze brick poking
out of a box. 'That' turned out to be a Leica Minilux Zoom.
I tried to be dismissive. After all, the Minilux is less than
half the price of a proper Leica and has a zoom lens (35mm
~ 70mm) to boot. All my wife was seeing, I decided,was the
price but she persisted and I do love my wife, so I humoured
her.
Well, it was small. In fact, it's about 2/3rds the size of
an 'M' series camera. Holding it is an experience. You think
you're going to pick up a toy and instead you find yourself
holding a small metallic brick. The body is Titanium and supremely
solid. Try pressing the film loading door and all you get
for your pains is a sore thumb.
The controls are simple. A door latch at the left hand side
with a socket beneath for the electric cable release; three
buttons on the top plate at the left control the flash mode,
exposure compensation and self timer; the big dial on the
right combines the on/off switch, autofocus and manual focus
regime while an even bigger lever below it controls the zoom.
Oh yes, there’s a shutter release on the top plate as
well!
The other two things on the top plate are the flash shoe (supplied
with a sold plastic cover) and the LCD which reads out battery
condition; film counter; flash mode; exposure compensation
and the T count (of which more later).
So there I was, looking at this thing and wishing my lovely
lady wife would leave me to get on with choosing between the
M4 and the M6. Then, to humour her, I looked through the finder.
Did I mention that I’m a Nikon F4 user? The F4 has, in
my experience, the best viewfinder ever fitted to a 35mm camera.
Well, the Minilux Zoom is damn nearly as good. As soon as
I took a look I changed my mind about this funny little bronze
brick. If the lens was as good as the finder then we were
talking turkey here! To cut the story short, I handed over
a lot fewer pound notes than I had expected to and came away
with the Minilux. And since that day I’ve been discovering
that there is Leica life outside of the M series.
Let’s start with that lens. Everyone knows that zoom
lenses aren’t going to be as good as primes, don’t
they? Well, ‘up to a point, Lord Copper’. If the
lens is an Elmar then the theory becomes shaky. Even at 6x4
you can see the difference – that famous ‘bokeh’
that makes the out of focus bits look smoother and the in
focus bits look three dimensional. Blow it up to 20x16 and
the sharp bits are still sharp! Okay, it limits you to a maximum
aperture of f3.5 at the chort end and f6.3 at 70mm but then
maximum aperture (as on any true Leica lens) is as usable
as any other. Of course, you can’t be sure what aperture
you’re using (nor what shutter speed, for that matter)
but I do a lot of low light work so I’m confident that
this lens works superbly at all apertures and focal lengths.
And that brings us to exposure. The auto exposure is truly
excellent. I’ve had one bad exposure out of more than
two dozen films, and that was when I intended to use the flash
to offset backlighting but forgot to switch it on. The exposure
compensation runs from –2 to +2 EV in ½ stops
so that’s OK. I’ve never found a need for it, myself.
If you cycle through the exposure compensation selections
you’ll get to the ‘T’ setting. In ‘T’
mode the camera opens the shutter when you press the release
and starts counting seconds in place of the film counter.
Press the shutter release again and the shutter closes. The
LCD is backlit which is just what you want when taking time
exposures.
There are seven flash modes ranging from automatic (the camera
decides if and when to use the flash) through to always off.
I’ve only ever found a use for these two modes and the
auto mode works very nicely, thank you (and this from a man
who loathes flash). Incidentally, you can select any flash
mode or exposure compensation factor to be your default at
switch-on.
The active AF, in common with all active systems, is fooled
by glass or reflective surfaces. Other than that, it works
very nicely and you have AF/AE lock as standard whenever you
take first pressure on the shutter release. And of course,
you could always be adventurous and use manual focus setting!
The shutter release is the weak point of the camera. There’s
too little feedback when you press the chrome, ‘D’
shapped button and I often find myself wandering if I’ve
missed the shot. So far I haven’t! In use the camera
is very, very quiet. Not silent, but certainly quiet enough
not to disturb people. Battery life appears to be very good.
My first battery still reads full.
The Minilux Zoom is a whole different beast from anything
else I’ve seen. Its bright, sharp viewfinder is as close
to a very good SLR screen as you’ll get – only without
the mirror blackout. The lens is, quite simply, amazing. It’s
a true pocket camera (I take mine everywhere). Auto focus/exposure
combined with that wonderfull viewfinder means that I take
a greater proportion of ‘keepers’ than with any
other camera I’ve used apart from my F4s or my (late
and much lamented) Hassleblad.
If you’re looking for the ultimate compact, I think you’ve
just found it.
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